Commissioners Reject Pleas To Help Pay For New Park

August 28, 1987|By AMY DePAUL, Staff Writer

Despite pleas to reconsider, commissioners of the South Broward Park District said on Thursday they would spend their last $2 million to spruce up the district`s three parks instead of to help pay for a fourth.

The district will be dissolved and its holdings absorbed by Broward County in October 1988. In June, commissioners decided to spend all the money reserved for park acquisitions and improvements to fix up C.B. Smith, Topekeegee Yugnee and North Beach parks.

Broward County Commission Chairman Howard Forman said the district should use the money instead to back a commitment to help the county buy 13 acres of undeveloped Hallandale beach property owned by developer Victor Posner.

``You ought to leave some money in your budget for the Posner tract. If you can leave $1 million, $2 million, fine,`` Forman said. ``That commitment is still good.``

Forman said the district promised to help pay for the Posner tract in 1983 when park commissioners raised $3.5 million in taxes after residents said they supported buying the tract at public hearings. Park officials said the money was never earmarked specifically for the Posner property.

District Commissioner John Bertino defended the park board`s effort to improve the parks before turning them over to the county.

``We are preparing the corpse for the funeral . . . The county can take over the commitment to the Posner tract,`` he said.

At the meeting, engineers under contract to make improvements to the parks detailed some of their plans.

They said they would expand campgrounds for recreational vehicles, build restrooms, repair buildings, replace some lighting and drainage systems and repair signs at all three parks.